Customer Snapshot
- 62%: Participation Increase in 2025
- 8% : Of Registrations from Automated Emails
- 80%: More Donations
Utah Food Bank has served their state since 1904, distributing tens of millions of meals annually through hundreds of partner agencies throughout the state. For the last twenty years, the Utah Human Race on Thanksgiving Day has brought Utahans together for a Turkey Trot that serves as a significant fundraiser for Utah Food Bank.
How Growth Created Challenges for the Utah Human Race in 2025
Prior to COVID, the Utah Human Race regularly hosted nearly 5,000 runners; however, in the subsequent years, participation had dwindled slightly and hovered around 3,500-4,000. In 2025, a confluence of circumstances led to outsized growth, with a record setting turnout over 6,000. Factors that contributed to growth included:
- A national uptick in Turkey Trot participation (the average Turkey Trot grew 11% in 2025).
- A Federal Government shutdown causing disruptions with SNAP benefits, and a subsequent public focus on supporting food banks to ensure services to fill the gap.
- The concerted advertising effort throughout local media outlets in Utah that Utah Food Bank invests in each year.
While the race’s rapid growth in 2025 was very welcome, it also brought some unique challenges, including the need to manage a record number of people during packet pickup and on race day, and a previously placed t-shirt order that fell short of the number of interested Turkey Trotters. Heidi Cannella, Utah Food Bank Communications Director, was tasked with using existing resources and RunSignup to manage the record-breaking turnout.
Using Previous Race Shirts and RunSignup Inventory to Solve a Shirt Shortage
Faced with registration numbers that were threatening to exceed the shirt order that had been placed based on 2024 registrations – but not wanting to turn anyone away – the Utah Human Race got creative. The solution? Use their backstock of shirts from previous years to fill the gaps and ensure shirts for most participants.
First, they inventoried their stock of shirts from previous races. Then, they added new Giveaway options to registration: a clearly labeled “Previous Year Shirt”. With accurate inventory totals for both new and old shirts, they could let people keep registering, and keep picking shirts. As new shirts ran out, participants simply opted for the previous year shirts that were still in stock.
Previous Year Shirts added to Giveaway options, with Inventory ensuring shirts aren’t oversold
“We were so impressed with how RunSignup worked. Having an accurate shirt inventory was crucial if we wanted to set participant expectations clearly, and the process was seamless.”
– Heidi Cannella, Utah Food Bank Communications Director
Managing RaceDay for Thousands
The Importance of Communication
The Utah Human Race hosts packet pickup at their facility over 8 days, with no race day pickup option. While the race is untimed, it’s important to get participants their official race bib and t-shirt before race morning.
To communicate packet pickup (and race morning) instructions and ensure all 6,000 people know where to go, Heidi turned to RunSignup’s free email marketing. They sent several reminders with packet pickup details and key race day reminders like parking.
Tracking Progress Via the RaceDay CheckIn App
The Utah Human Race used the RaceDay CheckIn App to manage packet pickup for their thousands of runners. Packet Pickup is hosted at their Utah Food Bank headquarters over 8 days, with no race morning option to pickup. While the race is untimed, the RaceDay CheckIn App helped ensure that participants had an official race bib and received the correct shirt.
The check-in team was able to quickly and easily see what shirt (current or previous) the participant should get, and since the items had been clearly labeled during registration, there were no surprises. Those who had a shirt from a previous year were simply happy to be able to participate.
“I really like that we can easily communicate to remind people multiple times about packet pickup to make sure they are all handed out in advance. And, being able to see who is checked in is important – it’s useful for planning for staffing packet pickup as we get closer to race day.”
– Heidi Cannella, Utah Food Bank Communications Director
Looking to 2026: More Email Marketing
Looking to 2026, Heidi expects to use email marketing more to help retain the participants who started a new Turkey Trot tradition in 2026. And there’s good reason to think it’ll work – in 2025, 9.6% of all registrations came from email marketing without a significant focus on email.
The first way the Utah Human Race re-engaged previous participants and got people through the (registration) finish line was Automated Emails. The race enabled two types of automated emails:
- Incomplete Registration Emails, which send a reminder to a someone who abandons their cart before completing a registration, encouraging them to come back. 1% of registrations came directly from an Incomplete Registration Automated Email.
- Price Increase Emails, which send participants from the previous 3 years a reminder to register before a price increase (and send current participants a reminder to invite their friends before the price increase). 7% of registrations came directly from an Price Increase Email.
The Automated Price Increase Email Can Be Configured Ahead of Time, and Left to Promote the Race For You
The beauty of automated emails is that they are a “set-it-and-forget-it” feature. Once set up, they marketed the Utah Human Race without any manual work. Additionally, the logistics emails sent around Packet Pickup and race day also included a reminder to get all family and friends registered. An another 1.6% of registrations came from that late appeal.
The Result:
More Participants, More Donations, More Fundraisers, More Money for Food
While the significant growth of the Utah Human Race in 2025 created some challenges, the bottom line was all success. Compared to 2024, the race saw:
- 62% more participants
- 80% more donations made
- 60% more in donation dollars
- 188% more people engaged as fundraisers
In short, the race managed the logistical concerns of a record-breaking year with ease. Now, the goal will be maintaining this tradition of giving and running for their thousands of new participants. We can’t wait to see what 2026 brings!
Setup Your Turkey Trot Today
Looking for a registration solution for your own Turkey Trot? RunSignup supported 1,000+ Thanksgiving Day races in 2025, and we’d love to help you with yours. You can jump straight in and start setting up your event, or schedule a call to speak with a team member about how RunSignup could help you grow and manage your event.